Typical Gamer Praises ‘Fortnite’ Discoverability After Major Milestone

YouTuber and Fortnite UEFN creator Andre “Typical Gamer” Rebelo has become the first developer to pass one million in-game followers since the recent launch of the new discoverability tools inside Fortnite.

Rebelo, who has long been one of the most successful developers within the UEFN ecosystem, hit the milestone last week, cementing himself and his studio, Jogo, as the biggest players in the highly competitive Fortnite experience space. His closest competitor, UNC, has 819,000 followers at the time of writing.

While the milestone is an achievement to celebrate, Typical Gamer has taken the opportunity to praise Epic for the recently introduced discoverability tools that make it easier for Fortnite players to find these community created experiences in game. The new systems such as being able to follow creators, in game recommendations and increased visibility for new experiences have made it easier for the best games to rise to the top, without the need to have big names attached to do external marketing.

“As a creator, it’s what we’ve been waiting for,” said Typical Gamer. “It means the players who love our content can actually find it. No more friction, countless code inputs or jumping through hoops. As a studio lead, it means we can do more with less. Before this system, we’d have to market individual maps and hope that players would come back to see our new experiences. Now, we can promote our new experiences and also build this social media following on Fortnite itself. Players can enjoy a game and follow along to see the other new awesome things we make.”

Despite being a relatively new addition, there has already been noticeable differences since players have been able to follow Typical Gamer inside of Fortnite, giving them near instant access to any of his studio’s new games. Stats for his new map launches have been up, especially in the first hours after being released, due to players being told about it in game instantly and not having to rely on YouTube videos or social posts to get the word out. He also says that average playtime per user is also increasing, showing that when players find one experience they like from a creator, they stick around and try others.

While it may not have been the most exciting Fortnite update ever, for UEFN creators, the discoverability tools update has arguably been the biggest since the platform launched. It’s already improving things for the biggest names, and should also help newcomers to the platform climb the ranks, even if they do not have a major influencer attached to their project to market it for them.

“There’s more to do, but it’s the most important update to UEFN’s discovery tools since its launch,” said Typical Gamer. “We’ve gone from ‘hope they find us’ to ‘there’s a decent chance when they open the game they’ll find us.’ You can follow a creator, get notified in a certain row of discovery, and jump straight into their maps. It’s not just a fix; it’s a foundation for the next era of UGC development in Fortnite. Just as importantly, it brings competitive transparency to the platform. We can finally see when and where content is being promoted and what’s gaining traction across the ecosystem, be it our maps or not. That kind of visibility lets us sharpen our priorities based on what’s resonating with players right now, so we can interpret trends and stay competitive.”

Despite being the top dog on the platform, Rebelo seems more excited about the possibilities this will bring other creators, giving them a chance to find the success he has had, which is undoubtedly somewhat down to his popularity outside of the game. Now anyone with a good idea has a shot to become the most popular UEFN creator, and that is a very exciting prospect for everyone.

“We’re no longer completely relying on external platforms to funnel players into the game,” said Typical Gamer. “The system is helping to do that for us and right where it matters: in-game That helps our team to focus our marketing efforts to where it counts, and it frees up our team and I to invest more in gameplay, campaigns, polish; the stuff that actually improves the player experience.”

With the race to one million followers now over, Rebelo and his team are going back to what they do best, creating new experiences within Fortnite that appeal to a massive range of players. His decision to launch a user generated content studio seems to be paying off, and that is ultimately a good thing for both him, but also the players who get to experience his team’s games.